Amazon.co.uk Review
Pogue, who's written about Macs for years writes about Macs at the user level with clarity. He's also quite good at dealing with the numerous options and variations that apply to Mac procedures, and makes very good use of sidebars for clarifying details. In a section on printing, for example, Pogue explains why there's no longer an option to turn off background printing (true multitasking has rendered the option obsolete). There's also good coverage of the online iTools, tailored to people unfamiliar with integrating remote resources into their personal computing environments. --David Wall
Topics covered: Apple Mac OS X for people who will use the operating system, either on a standalone computer with Internet access or on a computer that is part of a home or organisational network. Running applications (in Classic mode as well as in native Mac OS X mode), printing, networking, multimedia, security (including Keychain), and utilities are all covered. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Clark Morledge, Williamsburg Macromedia User Group, May 15, 2002
Stewart Brand, Whole Earth, August 2002
Dave Tabakin, Williamsburg Macromedia User Group, June 2002
Eugenia Loli Queru, OS News, March 2002
Chuck La Tournous, RandomMaccess.com, July 2002
Elsa Travisano, News Break, Macintosh Users Group, Oneonta NY, June 2002
Monte Ferguson, Grand Rapids Area Microcomputers Users Group, May 2002
Lynn E. Poos, Silicon Mountain Macintosh User Group, May 2002
Space Port Users Group, April 2002
MacWorld, May 2002
Charles Stross, Computer Shopper June 2002
Review
Joe Farace, ShutterBug, Dec 2002
Tony Reveaux, Film/Tape World, Nov 2002
Craig Bjorkman, MacGuiuld, Dec 14, 2002
Judith Holder, South Mississippi Mac User Group, Feb 2003
Peter Blum, Imacination, Jan 2002
mastering Mac OSX...I can give an unqualified
thumbs up on this one. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Mark Sealey, thinksecret.com, Jan 2002
David Weeks, Mymac.com, Feb 2002
John Suda, Apple Cide User Group, June 2002
outstanding reference work and well worth the
$34.95 price tag --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Emazing Tip World, Feb 25, 2002
Product Description
New York Times computer columnist David Pogue has just updated his bestselling Mac OS X:The Missing Manual! And once again, he applies his scrupulous objectivity to this exciting new operating system, revealing which new features work well and which do not. With new material on almost every page, this second edition offers a wealth of detail on the myriad changes in OS X 10.2.
Apple says that 10.2 introduces 150 new features to Mac OS X, but for once it undercounted. "Jaguar" is a different animal entirely. It's faster, more powerful, and much more customizable -- but it still comes without a manual.
The first edition of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual was the #1 bestselling computer book of 2002, selling 100,000 copies in six months. Now David Pogue brings his humor and expertise to this completely rewritten, greatly expanded edition. It covers:
Getting started. The early chapters demystify the Dock, the Finder toolbar, and the unfamiliar Mac OS X folder structure.
New technologies. Mac OS X 10.2 includes dramatic enhancements in Internet integration (Sherlock 3, iCal, iSync, .Mac, a built-in firewall, Internet sharing), networking (Rendezvous, Windows compatibility, virtual private networking), and entertainment (iTunes 3, DVD Player, Inkwell, iChat).
Basics of Unix. You can sail along in Mac OS X without ever realizing that you're using Unix. But if you're tempted by the power of the command line, this book contains a gentle, intelligent introduction.
Finding familiar features. This second edition includes two of the popular "Where'd It Go?" Appendixes: one for veteran Mac fans, and one for Windows refugees. Look up any traditional feature -- and find out precisely where Apple put it in Mac OS X 10.2.
As always, Mac OS X:The Missing Manual offers warm, witty writing, and bursts with the shortcuts, surprises, and design touches that make the Mac the most passionately championed computer in the world.
From the Publisher
From the Author
That’s because Mac OS X is not, in fact, the Mac OS at all. It’s a completely new operating system, a hybrid of Unix and an attractive Apple-designed front end. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
David Pogue, Yale '85, is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. With nearly 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors, having written or co-written seven books in the "for Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music), along with several computer-humor books and a technothriller, "Hard Drive" (a New York Times "notable book of the year"). Pogue is also the creator and primary author of the Missing Manual series of complete, funny computer books, a joint venture with O'Reilly & Associates. Titles in the series include Mac OS X, Windows XP, iPod, Microsoft Office, iPhoto, Dreamweaver, iMovie 2, and many others. His Web page is www.davidpogue.com, and his email address is david@pogueman.com.
Excerpted from Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Pogue. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Mac OS X Folder Structure
If you’re used to older versions of the Mac OS, switching to Mac OS X means having to unlearn one deeply ingrained habit right away:double-clicking your hard drive icon to get started for the day.
If you do double-click that icon, you’ll find folders called Applications, Library, and Users –folders you didn’t put there. (If you upgraded an existing Mac to Mac OS X, you’ll also see all your original hard drive folders nestled among them. )
Most of these new folders aren’t very useful to you, the Mac’s human companion. They’re there for Mac OS X’s own use. Think of your main hard drive window as storage for the operating system itself, to be accessed only occasionally for administrative purposes. (No wonder that in early versions of Mac OS X, Apple didn’t put your hard drive icon on the desktop at all. The truth is, double-clicking it gains you very little. )
Your Home Folder
Instead of setting up your nest –your files, folders, aliases, and so on –in the hard drive window, from now on you’ll set it up in your Home folder. That’s a folder bearing your name (or whatever name you typed when you installed Mac OS X).
One way to find it is to double-click the Users folder, and then double-click the folder inside it that bears your name and looks like a house (see Figure 2-1). Here, at last, is the window that you’ll eventually fill with new folders, organize, back up, and so on.
Mac OS X is rife with shortcuts for opening this all-important folder.
Choose Go .Home.
•Press Shift-c H.
•Click the Home icon (the little house) on the toolbar.
•Click the Home icon on the Dock. (If you don’t see one, consult page 90 for instructions on how to put one there.)
All of these steps open your Home folder directly.
So why has Apple demoted your files to a folder three levels deep? The answer may send you through the five stages of grief –Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance – but if you’re willing to go through it, much of the mystery surrounding Mac OS X will fade away.
Mac OS X has been designed from the ground up for computer sharing. It’s ideal for any situation where different family members, students, or workers share the same Mac.
In fact, in Mac OS X, each person who uses the computer will turn on the machine to find his own separate and secure desktop picture, set of files, Web bookmarks, font collection, and preference settings. (You’ll find much more about this feature in Chapter 11.)
Like it or not, Mac OS X considers you one of these people. If you’re the only one who uses this Mac, fine – simply ignore the sharing features. (You can also ignore all that business at the beginning of Chapter 1 about logging in.) But in its little software head, Mac OS X still considers you an account holder, and stands ready to accommodate any others who should come along.
Note: Some Mac fans have noted with dismay that Mac OS X lacks an Encrypt command for protecting individual files. In part, that’s because the need for file-by-file privacy isn’t quite as critical now that your entire machine environment is protected. Still, if you miss the ability to password-protect individual folders or files, you can use Mac OS X’s Disk Copy to do it, as described on page 286.
In any case, now you should see the importance of the Users folder in the main hard drive window. Inside are folders –the Home folders –named for the different people who use this Mac. In general, nobody is allowed to touch what’s inside anybody else’s folder. If you’re the sole proprietor of the machine, of course, there’s only one Home folder in the Users folder –named for you. (You can ignore the Shared folder, which is described on page 342.)
This is only the first of many examples in which Mac OS X imposes a fairly rigid folder structure. Still, the approach has its advantages. For example, you’re not the only one who must live by its rules, as software installers are equally regulated. By keeping such tight control over which files go where, Mac OS X keeps itself pure –and very, very stable. (Other operating systems known for their stability, such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP, work the same way.)
Furthermore, keeping all of your stuff in a single folder makes it very easy for you to back up your work. It also makes life easier when you try to connect to your machine from elsewhere in the office (over the network)or elsewhere in the world (over the Internet), as described in Chapter 21.
